Around the NFL: Need a GPS from training camp to the Super Bowl?

In Steve Doerschuk's weekly pro football column he wonders who isn't looking for directions from here to there.

Steve Doerschuk

Hey, buddy. What’s the best way from Berea to the Super Bowl?

It’s July. Everybody from the Raiders (2-14 in 2006) to the Chargers (14-2) is looking for some such directions.

Any road to the Super Bowl begins in training camp. Certain owners go to odd lengths testing theories on whether their global positioning is perfect.

In 2006, crazy Jerry Jones had Dallas training in Oxnard, Calif., 1,494 miles from Texas Stadium. On Tuesday, his Cowboys reported to San Antonio’s Alamodome. That’s in Texas but, at 283 miles from home, might as well be on Neptune.

Jones won three Super Bowls in the ’90s, so who’s to say weird can’t be efficient?

The Cleveland Browns, on the other hand, have never been to a Super Bowl. Maybe they should think about getting out of the house.

They moved headquarters to suburban Berea in 1992, trained there for four years under Bill Belichick, didn’t have a franchise for three years and plopped right back into Berea as an expansion reincarnation from 1999 through now.

In a way, there’s less difference between Browns training camp and what comes afterward than there is between one McDonald’s on Bagley Road and another one 2 1/2 miles down the street.

All Browns players must hole up at a hotel for three weeks. After that, they may sleep where they want, but they’re right back in Berea for all of their practices from late August through early winter.

All of their AFC North rivals take legitimate camp getaways.

The Ravens, who won the division last year, operate at McDaniel College, 37 miles from the Baltimore waterfront. Brian Billick lets veterans go home to their families after the third day of camp.

The Steelers got to a recent Super Bowl from Latrobe, Pa. — they have trained at St. Vincent College, about 45 miles from Heinz Field, since 1967. They’re the ultimate tradition freaks.

The Bengals, AFC North kings in 2005, go over the Ohio River and 70 miles through the Kentucky woods to Georgetown College. For years, they trained at a quiet outpost in the opposite direction, in Wilmington, Ohio.

On the other hand, New England, which has spent the decade bumper to bumper with Super Bowls, stays home. The Patriots train where they play, in Foxboro, Mass. Oddly, when it rains hard enough, they go indoors to a facility used by a pro soccer team, the Revolution, which trades places and practices in the rain.

Why? Real men play soccer, Bill Belichick deadpans.

Super Bowl champ Indianapolis is in a large cluster of teams whose camp is about an hour away from its stadium. Peyton Manning hones his brand of rocket science at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind.

Most teams that get away for camp tout the bonding element of a group road adventure.

Carl Peterson thinks the group needs to go long to get close. His Chiefs train in River Falls, Wisc., which is farther from Kansas City than the Royals are from the World Series.

One Big Apple team doesn’t fall far from the tree. The Jets’ camp at Hofstra University is 39 miles from the Meadowlands.

The Giants, on the other hand, take a giant step from Giants Stadium, training 143 miles out in Albany, N.Y.

The Bears got to a Super Bowl from Olivet Nazarene University, 57 miles from Soldier Field in Bourbonnais, Ill.

The Saints think they’re a threat to go all the way starting with a camp at Millsaps College, 190 miles from Bourbon Street.

Whatever the training camp location, the drink of choice is water, and in theory it is where one grabs onto the beginning of the rainbow.

Upon hearing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed Adams, the Browns knew instantly their unsigned No. 3 overall pick, Joe Thomas, would become the richest offensive lineman in team history. For a few months, that distinction has been held by guard Eric Steinbach, signed to a seven-year, $49.5 million in free agency.

Whereas Steinbach established himself in Cincinnati, the Browns must sweat out the possibility Thomas could go the way of Robert Gallery, a “can’t-miss” left tackle who has whiffed big-time with Oakland.

When Odell Thurman helped the Bengals win an AFC North title as a rookie, he looked like a steal of a Round 2 draft pick.

Now that the misbehaving linebacker has been suspended a second straight season, he is a reason the Bengals will struggle to improve on the 8-8 finish to which they sank last year.

Moral of the story, especially on Roger Goodell’s watch: Don’t try shortcuts that run through the courthouse.

One reason the Bills think rookie Round 2 pick Paul Posluszny was a steal is his projected long-term reliability. If the former Penn State linebacker is a hit, Buffalo, coming off a 7-9 year, could wind up in the wild-card race.

It was a big boost for the Bills to sign Posluszny to a four-year, $4.75 million deal a day before training camp opened.

Extra Points

- Believe 10 percent of what you hear during the contract negotiation season. Case in point: Bears linebacker Lance Briggs. While whining about being designated as Chicago’s franchise player, Briggs said, “I’ll never play another down for Chicago.” Unless the Bears suddenly move to Peoria, that is untrue. Briggs agreed to report to camp after the Bears promised not to slap the franchise tag on him next year. Briggs is scheduled to make $7.2 million while stuck in franchise-player purgatory.

- Giants General Manager Jerry Reese told New York writers, “Tom (Coughlin) knows I’m supporting him 100 percent.” Put that one in the Lance Briggs file if the Giants go 8-8 again.

- Even when Patriots cornerback Asante Samuel’s reporting status for Friday’s opening of Patriots camp was uncertain, no one took seriously the threat he might sit out most of the season rather than accept being a franchise player. Even Samuel must wonder whether much of his success owes to Bill Belichick’s system. He is scheduled to make $7.79 million in 2007.

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